


Santa’s Little Helpers

by SomedayonBroadway



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Deaf Character, Elves, Hard of Hearing Jack, Light Angst, M/M, Modern Era, sprace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomedayonBroadway/pseuds/SomedayonBroadway
Summary: When Albert had told Race he'd had a surprise for him down at the mall, this is not exactly what Race had had in mind.
Relationships: Albert DaSilva & Racetrack Higgins, Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Racetrack Higgins & Smalls, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	Santa’s Little Helpers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katrina Miller](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Katrina+Miller).



> So this little fic was a request from Katrina Miller. This reviewer did ask for a Christmas fic with Race and Albert and while that's definitely here, this did turn into a bit of a Sprace fic. I hope that's okay!
> 
> Please enjoy!

When Albert had told Race he'd had a surprise for him down at the mall, this is not exactly what Race had had in mind.

Race was now making minimum wage at, what he had been told by Saint Nick himself, was the perfect job for him. He was an elf. If the pointy ears and ridiculous jingle bell hat weren't enough, the shoes certainly completed the outfit. He was clad up in ridiculous green and white socks and even worse tiny red overalls. What didn't make sense to Race was that he had never been particularly short. Neither had Albert. And yet, here they were, pretending they were tiny, had squeaky little voices and painting red little red circles on their noses and cheeks.

Currently, Santa's was on a ten and that meant that Santa's helpers had to deal with the oh-so understanding parents and their screaming kids who had been waiting in line for about two hours now only for Santa to decide he needed a break.

"Oh my gosh, look at him," Race groaned a bit at the voice, turning around to be met with the sight of his all too adorning big brother who was not even alone. No, he had his girlfriend on his arm. "Honey, look at our little elf! They grow up so fast."

The pair had bags and bags of things in their arms. And Race couldn't even be bothered to be the nosy kid he was and try to prematurely snoop. All he could do was glare as Katherine cooed at him, "Aww, we raised a good little elf, Jackie."

With a roll of his eyes, Race just prayed no one else he knew from school stumbled through Santa's Village. As much of a loser as he already was, he didn't think he'd survive the torment. Albert, however, didn't seem to care as he slung an arm around Race's shoulders and hung on him a bit. Albert was eccentric. People expected this kind of thing from him. Race, as he often was, was just along for the ride. Right now, that ride required red, white and green everything and a fake smile for the bratty kids that tugged on his hair and ears.

"Heya, Jack!" Albert grinned. Race pouted his lips over his brother, as though he was asking for some kind of help but Jack only reached into his back pocket and took out his phone, snapping a picture of the pair. Albert was grinning.

Not quite as ecstatic to be here, Race's pout turned into a small glare towards the man who raised him. "Have I ever told you that I hate you?" he asked, only getting a small laugh out of Jack. "I'm burning all of your presents."

Jack only smiled and shrugged. "Well, I guess that means I can go return all of this—"

With his eyes widened in fake terror Race shook his head. "No! Jackie!" he whined. "I want presents…"

"Then I guess you gotta be a good little elf and take all the kiddies to meet Santa," Jack shrugged. Then he smirked. He had such a knowing smirk and Race hated him and yet somehow still loved him for it.

Before he could further insult his big brother in front of the giant line of crabby customers, Katherine was quick to press a quick kiss to his cheek. "We'll be by later to give you guys a ride, okay?" he promised, moving to give a waiting Albert a kiss on the head. "Tinker away my little elves."

"Bye, Red!" Albert called.

"Bye, Red!" Katherine called back, walking away confidently without her boyfriend.

Jack paused to give Race a kiss on the head too. "Be good, okay? Give these kids a good meeting with Santa. You don't know how many of them might actually need it." That was just like Jack. Thinking about others first. Sometimes Race feared that it might be Jack's downfall. He cared too much about others. He was self sacrificing. He couldn't could the number of times Jack had literally given him the shirt off of his back and the food that never reached his mouth. They'd grown up poor. They'd grown up orphans.

But that was a long time ago.

Race was sixteen now. And he had a job like any normal sixteen year old does at Christmas time.

Turning back to Albert, he sighed. "Why did you make me do this?" It was true. If anyone from school saw him here, he'd be torn apart. He and Albert weren't exactly super popular and they had accepted that a long time ago. That didn't mean no one knew who they were. In fact, people knew them as geeks and/or nerds who were constantly the target of some popular kids' pranks.

With a cheeky grin, all Albert could do was shrug. It was impossible to make the redhead embarrassed at this point. Race figured they'd been through enough humiliation to get him immune. See, Albert had not only one, but two older brothers. They were a product of his father's first marriage and were much older than Albert by the fault. They had been tormenting him his whole life. Race loved Albert's older brothers but they had always had sneaky, effective ways of embarrassing their baby brother. "Um, I'm sorry, we spread Christmas cheer to every child in the world. We're basically like the most important people in the world right now. Our job is literally to make Christmas happen. God knows Santa just sits on his ass all year long while we do all the heavy lifting," Albert scoffed, almost looking offended. "And also… money…" he finished, like that part was some great bonus.

To be honest, Albert wasn't wrong. The money was a great thing and Race was glad to have a little cash in his pocket for the holidays. He still had plenty of Christmas shopping to do. "Whatever…" he scoffed, rolling his eyes as they saw Santa coming back. The guy wasn't the best, but he got the job done.

"You're the one who said you wanted a job, man," Albert said.

"I meant a normal job, Al," Race groaned dramatically as he forced himself to make his way over to that big red rope that blocked off their little area. "One where I don't gotta wear a costume." Albert just tugged on Race's hair. Race let out a small yelp but he got back to work, shooting a glare in his best friend's direction as he let the first child in line go through. He only got shoved a little bit by the mother who had only yelled at him the second Santa walked away.

Today was the seventh day Race had been working and that meant, coincidentally, that he was also getting his first paycheck today and that was something to be happy about. It was all he could think about at the moment, as he lifted screaming, kicking, smelly children on and off of Santa's lap while a bored photographer snapped their picture. Well that and, of course, lunch.

Well, sort of.

As hungry as Race was, and Race was really hungry, the idea of having to stand out in the cafeteria like this was enough to make him want to put a bag over his head. According to his manager, he was not allowed to take off the costume at any time. It would ruin the magic, apparently and that just meant they wanted to see what happened when they sent two teenage boys dressed as elves out into the most popular hang out in the city just to see what would happen.

There were literally twenty minutes left before Race and Albert could take an hour long lunch and that's when Race saw him. "Hi, are you guys ready ta meet Santa—" He froze when he looked up to see a very hot, very muscular boy standing above him. "Holy sh—" A hand clamped tightly down over his mouth before the word slipped out and he nearly bit it to get it off.

Spot Conlon was one of the most popular kids at their school. He was the athlete. The quarterback, captain of the soccer team, pitcher of the baseball team and the literal homecoming king was standing right there in front of him and Race was staring at him with wide eyes. "Hi, Spot Conlon," Albert greeted much too cheerfully. Race was sure it had nothing to do with the fact that he was the only person in the world that knew that Race had a huge crush on the older boy and had ever since the sixth grade.

Spot gave the both of them an odd look. "Uh… hi? Do I know you guys?" he asked. It was only then that Race noticed he was holding onto a little girl's hand. He didn't know that Spot had any siblings.

Easily, Albert pulled Race up and put his arm around him again. "Uh… we go ta the same school… I've been in your bio class for the past semester, you live in the same building as Race—"

"Oh you guys are the ones that had to run through the school in your underwear because the Delanceys stole your clothes!" Spot said, like it should've been obvious.

It was immediate, the way Race's face fell into his hands dramatically. Albert hardly reacted. "Yep." Race wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole. That had been one of the single worst days of his life and he loved to have that reminder right now by this boy with this random kid there too. "Anyway, is your sister ready ta meet Santa?"

Snapping back to the moment, Spot looked down at the little girl who seemed very interested in her little toes right then. "Oh, this is actually my niece. Her name's Saraya but we all call her Smalls," he explained. There was still another kid up on Santa's lap giving him a list about the size of himself. "She really wanted to meet Santa, but she's deaf so… h-he doesn't have to talk to her or anything, she just wanted to say hi."

So maybe Race was desperate to impress this boy somehow, but he actually got very excited at hearing that. He immediately looked up before he kneeled back down to that little girl's level. He lifted up his hands slowly. " _Hi_ ," he signed with a small smile. " _My name's Tyler. Are you excited to see Santa?_ "

The little girl's face lighting up tuned out the voice of his best friend looking up at Spot and spilling his life story. "His brother is hard of hearing. They were in a really bad car accident when they were little so now he has to wear hearing aids but they couldn't afford them when they were little so…" Albert never knew when to stop talking.

It was true. Jack had lost his hearing almost completely when he was ten years old. It hadn't been an easy adjustment for either of them, especially since they were orphaned in the very same crash. Jack hadn't handled it well. So Race had helped him learn a language that he didn't have to hear and now here he was.

They'd both lived.

Saraya nodded to him and signed back, " _I know that's not the real Santa, but my uncle says he's gonna tell the real Santa my wish!_ "

With a big smile, Race nodded right back. "It's true! Santa just so happens to be a personal friend of mine," he explained a bit smugly, his heart only warming when that grin on Smalls's face grew. " _What are you gonna ask for?_ "

That's when Spot stopped her, picking her up to mask that fact. He placed her on his hip before looking down at Race who slowly stood to his feet. "She… uh… she wants to see her mom… I'm trying to get her to ask for something else, but… her ma ain't home because… well she just ain't, but… we're hopin' ta get her home by Christmas. We just need enough to get a plane ticket," Spot shrugged, clearly not up for explaining at the moment.

Something sunk in Race's chest. He nodded, glancing back and realizing that it was Saraya's turn. "Uh, it's her turn…" Race stated awkwardly. So Spot nodded and walked over to Santa, setting Saraya down on his lap and translating for her as she sighed and signing back what Santa said.

"You are so in love with him," Albert sighed.

Race elbowed his friend in the gut and turned to him. "I'm not even… I'm thinkin' about Saraya! She just… I don't know… reminds me of Jack, okay?" he shrugged. "Except she's not quite as sad as he was when…" Race shook his head.

"Okay, don't go gettin' all emotional. Just get her a gift 'r somethin'."

Race smiled at that.

So that's exactly what they did.

This is how Race ended up on Albert's back, still clad up in annoying green and red colors as they quickly went from store to store trying to find the right thing during their lunch break.

"And then Kat said, 'well, if you admit that you don't believe in Santa, then maybe he'll stop comin' around, so like… I'm sixteen and I still get presents from Santa and I call that a win," Race shrugged, resting his chin on Albert's shoulder.

Albert scoffed. "Jeanne is the reason Santa still comes around ta our house— she misses you, by the way," he stated. "She's honestly, the cutest little kid I've ever met."

With a small laugh, Race jumped off of his friend's back and bounced over to the little stuffed animals. They were, of course, in the Disney store. He didn't know where else one would go to get a gift for a child. "Of course she misses me, I'm her favorite," he said, like it should've been obvious.

He came face to face with a little Stitch plushie. His heart swelled. It was one similar to something a nurse had gotten Jack all those years ago when Jack was in the hospital. Race shook himself out of it as he pulled the thing off the shelf. "This is the one," he decided.

"Ohana means family or whatever," Albert shrugged. "It's cute. Get it."

When they got back to Santa's Village, they stole some wrapping paper off of one of the decorations to wrap the gift. Race mostly swatted away Albert's hand when he tried to put a piece down all of the place. Race prided himself in his gift wrapping skills. "Dude, if you're using more than three pieces of tape, you've done something wrong!" he laughed as Albert hung a piece of tape from his nose.

But eventually, they managed to have a gift to give to the little girl who missed her mother.

Race got so wrapped up in the thought as he and Albert continued on that he didn't even notice the Delanceys walk by and mock them. He was too busy trying to give the kids a nice visit with Santa Claus. Some of them might actually need it.

—

When someone knocked on Spot Conlon's door later that night, he didn't know what to expect. The little elf boy definitely wasn't it. So, maybe he knew what the kid's name was. Racer. That didn't mean he was supposed to care.

Race wasn't wearing his costume anymore. He only wore the makeup. "Uh… hi…" he said. Spot almost greeted him back before the kid kept talking. "Look, I know it ain't like we're friends and you can make fun of me forever but… I… I got Saraya this and… this is for you guys…" He handed Spot a neatly wrapped box for Saraya and an envelope. It was his paycheck.

With a curious look, Spot smiled a little bit. "Um… thank you," he shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "You really didn't have to—"

"Saraya should be able to see her mom on Christmas…" Race shrugged.

Spot squinted at him a bit. "What—"

"Also, just to put this out there, I don't always look like this," he said.

A sly smirk made its way onto Spot's face as he shrugged. "Too bad. You make a cute elf."

Doing his best not to go weak in the knees, Race smiled breathily and let out a small, delighted laugh. "Uh, anyways—"

"Hey, what the Delanceys did," Spot interrupted, scratching awkwardly at the back of his neck. "That was messed up. I'm sorry I didn't say anything."

For some reason, that might've been the best thing Spot had ever said to him. Okay so maybe this was the first conversation they were really having all alone, but still. "Well, since it's the season of forgiving an' all…" Race shrugged. Then he sighed. "Merry Christmas, Spot."

Spot smiled at him. "Merry Christmas, Racer… and hey… thank you…"

And with that, Race walked away, feeling the Christmas spirit flowing through him more than he had in years.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas everybody! Happy holidays! Much love!
> 
> As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you'd change or what you'd improve by leaving me a review! Love ya, fansies!


End file.
